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Vistra to Install New Gas-Fired Units at Permian Basin Power Plant

LCG, September 30, 2025--Vistra Corp. announced yesterday that it will proceed with the next phase of its capital plan to support grid reliability in Texas. In 2024, Vistra identified over $1 billion worth of potential capital additions in generation capacity within the Texas ERCOT market by 2028 if market conditions were supportive. Now, with West Texas' growing power requirements, particularly the state's expanding oil and natural gas industries, Vistra reached a final investment decision and confirms it will build two new advanced natural gas-fired power units on-site at its Permian Basin Power Plant.

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ERCOT Announces New Grid Research, Innovation and Transformation (GRIT) Initiative

LCG, September 24, 2025--Electric Reliability Council of Texas Inc. (ERCOT) yesterday announced its new initiative to increase its efforts to fully use and apply innovation and transformation through industry collaboration to best overcome the challenges and opportunities facing future grid operations. The new Grid Research, Innovation, and Transformation (GRIT) initiative will advance research and prototyping of emerging concepts and solutions to better understand the implications of rapid grid and technology evolution and position ERCOT to lead in the future energy landscape.

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Industry News

PG&E Executes Contract with SolarReserve for 150 MW of Solar Power

LCG, December 23, 2009--SolarReserve yesterday announced a new power purchase agreement (PPA) with Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) for solar power generated from SolarReserve?s proposed Rice Solar Energy Project, a 150-MW facility to be built in Riverside County, California. Construction on the project is scheduled to commence in spring 2011, with operations planned to begin approximately 2 years thereafter.

The Rice Solar Energy Project will employ an advanced molten salt system from United Technologies Corp. The system will use thousands of mirrors to focus the sun's energy on a receiver set on top of a tower. The intense energy heats molten salt to over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit within the receiver. The molten salt then flows into a thermal storage tank, from which it can be pumped to a steam generator. The steam drives a turbine to generate electricity. The incorporation of the storage system enables the solar power plant to deliver power when the sun is either shining or not, thereby improving its value in the electricity market.

SolarReserve's chief executive officer stated, "Throughout the process, we have worked hard to minimize the project's impact on local resources, which is why the project is being developed on privately-owned land that had been previously used as an air field. Further, the project will use a dry cooling system that minimizes water usage without significantly impacting the plant's operational performance."

The PPA is subject to approval by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). California passed a Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program that requires utilities like PG&E to increase their electric supply procurement of eligible renewable generating resources by one percent of load per year. In September, the Governor signed an Executive Order that increased the requirement to 33 percent by 2020 and that now applies to all utilities, including publicly-owned municipal utilities.
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